Home to Stay
by Karen Weasley
Summary: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition round 12. Draco and his wife have a fight about his job that ends quite poorly...will they be able to reconcile?


**Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition round 12. The challenge this round was to write for your OTP (one true pairing for those of you who don't know because I didn't until now). My specific prompt was to write for my couple making up after a fight. My OTP is Draco/OC; my OC is the character I made up for my story Draco's Destiny. I will never write another long story with Draco and a girl again because I have just fallen so in love with this pair; I'm almost surprised when she's not in the real story I've had her in my head for so long! I hope you all enjoy; sorry I rambled for so long!**

_**Home to Stay**_

Destiny stared down at the broken pieces of china on the floor. Disjointed thoughts flew through her mind just as those pieces had not so long ago: how easily she could repair them with magic, how long she would stare at them, how easily her marriage could shatter just like them, and most importantly, how an argument had caused them to break in the first place.

Everything had been wonderful just a few hours ago. Destiny and Draco had been sitting in the kitchen enjoying their morning coffee when the fire had turned green announcing a floo call. Destiny had pursed her lips but allowed her husband to answer the call. Unsurprisingly, it was the Minister of Magic, Kingsley.

_**Flashback**_

"Good morning, sir," Draco said as he knelt in front of the fire. "What can we do for you?" Destiny noted the emphasis he put on "we".

"I'm afraid it is a matter of great importance, and I would prefer to speak to you alone, Draco," Kingsley replied.

Destiny started forward angrily, but Draco held up his hand. "It's alright, love," he soothed. "I won't be long."

Destiny huffed but obeyed her husband and left the room. With a sigh she sank down in her armchair and tried not to think about what was being said in the living room. She and Draco had married as soon as the war was over, and they could not have been happier. Draco had become an Auror and was tied with Harry for the best in the department. As proud as Destiny had been at the news, she now hated every moment of her husband's work.

Being the best had the certain drawback of being called out every time the Ministry caught wind of a new madman that needed catching. At first, Destiny hadn't minded as much; there were still a few crazed Death Eaters determined to be the next Dark Lord, but now, nearly ten years after the war was over, she was of the firm opinion that younger and _unmarried_ recruits should be sent out instead of her husband.

After his last trip out, Draco had sworn to her that he was finished with field work, and Destiny had let the matter drop, but now she fumed as she waited to hear the inevitable. Finally, Draco reentered the room with a grim expression set in place that told Destiny everything she needed to hear.

"NO!" she shouted. "You are not going out there again! I don't care if the Dark Lord himself has returned, you are staying here!"

"Destiny," Draco sighed. "Don't be like this…"

"No, you promised me that you were done! You said no more," Destiny screamed. "There are dozens of younger men and women they could send!"

"This one's too powerful for them, darling," Draco tried, but Destiny was having none of that.

"So he thinks that's a good enough reason to drag you away from home yet again?! The war ended ten years ago; there's no one left!"

"This madman claims he's going to be the next Dark Lord," Draco explained, still clinging to his calm tone. "I have to go, Des…"

"NO YOU DON'T!" Destiny roared. "I don't even know why you keep this job!"

"Because it pays the bills," Draco replied tersely. "We've gone over this before."

Destiny scoffed. "You told me you'd applied for Head of Department and would at least get a desk job off of it."

"Well did you ever think that maybe I don't want to be stuck behind a desk?" Draco finally snapped.

Destiny froze and turned ice eyes on her husband. "You…you actually enjoy this?" she hissed.

Draco knew he had made a serious mistake, but he couldn't help himself. "Do I enjoy getting out there: yes! Do I enjoy leaving you here: no. Do I enjoy this," he gestured between them, "of course not! But the fact is that it's my job, and you knew it would be when we got married."

"I had no idea it would last this long!" Destiny retorted angrily.

"Are you saying you would've acted differently if you had?" Draco asked.

"I don't know…" Destiny replied, her voice falling. "I just know that I can't do this anymore. I won't keep doing it to myself, and I certainly won't keep doing it to-"

"Mommy! Daddy!" a voice cried from the entryway. "Don't fight!"

Draco and Destiny turned to their four year old daughter, Morgana, who had come down from her room and was now standing in the doorway looking at them with a tear streaked face.

Destiny crossed the room in three strides and lifted her daughter into her arms. "I won't do this to her anymore, Draco."

Draco stared at his daughter and wife for a moment before sighing. "I don't want to, Des, but I have to…to protect you both. I'm going to pack."

"Daddy don't go! You said no more!" Morgana wailed.

Destiny pulled Morgana closer and tried to calm her as Draco left the room and hurried upstairs to pack.

A few moments later, he had returned with suitcase in hand. He tried to say good bye to Morgana, but she refused to look at him, convinced that her father had lied to her. Draco turned his eyes to Destiny, but she too was furious. "I have to go," he pleaded.

"No you don't," Destiny muttered. "You _want_ to."

"I know saying this won't matter, but I promise I will never leave again after this…I'll resign if I have to," Draco whispered. "I'll be back soon." With a crack, he was gone.

Destiny screamed and threw the nearest thing she could reach to the floor in anger: the china dish she and Draco had received for their wedding.

_**End Flashback**_

Morgana now sat crying in her chair while Destiny stared down at the plate trying to keep her own tears from falling.

A week later, Harry had come over to tell Destiny the Ministry had found Draco's cloak covered in blood lying in an alleyway with no other sign of him or the madman he had been chasing. Destiny had cried for hours and sent Morgana to Blaise and Alexis to avoid having to tell her what she feared.

Destiny sat in her chair by the fire with the radio on, although she really wasn't listening to it. All she could think of was how her last words with Draco had been in anger. After everything they had been through to end like this…she could hardly handle it. Images of their school days continued to flash before her eyes as she felt her heart break into more pieces than the china plate that still remained smashed on the floor.

"I should've tried to understand," she reproached herself. "I should've supported him. I should've gone with him! Maybe then…oh Draco!" she broke down yet again into violent sobs.

Weeks passed, and Destiny continued to keep up the face that Draco was at work for the sake of their daughter, and for the shred of hope she still kept alive in her heart that Draco was alright.

One evening, Destiny had just put Morgana to bed when she heard a rattling sound coming from the front door. Destiny gasped and clutched her wand tightly; no one she knew would come through the front door except Draco, and there had been no evidence to say he was still alive.

Quietly, she crept to the door and stood against the wall with her wand at the ready, prepared to attack whoever was trying to get into their house. When the front door finally clicked open, Destiny sprang from her hiding place and knocked the intruder to the ground with her wand pointing at the back of their neck.

"Don't move or I will kill you, and don't think for a moment I'm lying," she hissed. "Who are you?"

"Baby, I figured you'd be happy to see me, but I'd rather not die tonight," Draco's voice teased her.

"Where is my husband?" she shrieked. "What have you done with him?"

"Ok, I know you heard about them finding my cloak, but it really is me," the man insisted. "I caught the creep."

"What happened to you in our third year that you're still thanking me for?" Destiny demanded.

"I saved you from Buckbeak, and then you saved my eyes," the man replied without hesitation. "I'm still thanking you because I get to see your gorgeous face every day."

Destiny cried out in relief and hugged her husband tightly against her. "Oh Merlin it is you…you're alright!" she sobbed.

"Yes I'm alright," Draco soothed her. "And better than that; I told Kingsley I wanted a normal inside job or I'd quit. Needless to say, he put me in charge of training the new people, but I don't have to go out anymore."

Destiny sobbed in relief. "Thank Merlin for that," she breathed. "I thought…I thought…"

"I know," Draco replied with a soft smile. "But I'm here, and I'm fine."

"I'm so sorry," Destiny gasped. "I yelled at you and then you…"

"Hey," Draco interrupted her. "You had every right to be upset, and I don't blame you for having a go at me. Let's just not do it again, yeah?"

Destiny nodded and hugged him again.

Suddenly, both felt a large force hit them as Morgana flung herself into her father. "DADDY!" she squealed excitedly. "You're home!"

"I'm home, Princess," Draco assured her with a smile. "I'm home for good."

"Promise?" Morgana asked with watery eyes.

"Cross my heart," Draco replied seriously. "From now on, I'm always going to be right here."

"Good," Morgana smiled. "Because I want to show you; my room's green!"

Draco and Destiny turned to each other with beaming smiles.

"Oh!" Morgana added. "I fixed the plate!"

"Well done, love," Draco smiled and hugged his family close, glad to finally be home to stay.


End file.
